Joey Votto’s Bat Powers the Reds

With only about six weeks left in the baseball season, the surprising Cincinnati Reds are showing no signs of falling out of the National League Central race.  It’s been a two team race between the Reds and St. Louis Cardinals most of the season, and by mid August, the veteran team usually makes its move while the young upstart fades.  Not so this year.  The young Reds are surging while the Cardinals can’t get it together.  The Reds have a powerful offense, and lead the  National League in several categories, including team batting average, slugging percentage, runs batted in, and runs scored; they are second in the league in home runs.  A big contributor to this production is the Reds first baseman Joey Votto.

Votto, who turns 27 in September, was born in Toronto, up there in Canada, eh.  Votto first played for the Reds in September 2007, hitting 4 home runs and driving in 17 runs to go with a .321 batting average in 24 games.  He was remarkably consistent in 2007 and 2008, driving in 84 runs each year, and hitting 24 and 25 home runs, respectively.  Through games of August 20th in 2010, he’s already established a career high in home runs with 28, and with 81 runs batted in, he will soon have a new career mark in RBIs.

Though his home run and RBI production has dipped a little in August, he’s still hitting the ball well, carrying a .320 batting average.

The Reds were leading the Cardinals on August 20th by 4 1/2 games, so the occasional day off in the heat of summer might be just the ticket to keep Joey Votto fresh for the September stretch drive.

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Tags: cincinnati reds, joey, st louis cardinals